The Types of Clinical Depression

Clinical depression is an extreme form of depression where the sufferer’s life, well-being and activities are extremely disrupted and affected. It is quite normal for a person to feel low, sad, gloomy or otherwise unhappy at times; but these sadnesses come and go, they tend to be situational and reactive and do not predominate. When depressed, these states of unhappiness become more regular and ‘defining; when clinically depressed, the person’s ability to function as a ‘normal’ human being is severely impaired, and the individual may feel tired, unhappy, unmotivated and generally apathetic on an ongoing basis. It will likely result in negative thought patterns and possibly even alcohol or other substance abuse. This is called ‘clinical’ since it can be clinically diagnosed as depression.


Another name for clinical depression is unipolar depression. This term makes reference to another form of depression called bipolar, or ‘manic’ depression. What distinguishes these two forms is that a person suffering from the bipolar type will display mania followed by depression wher as unipolar affective disorder is characterised by depression alone. Whether a person is suffering from one or the other is not always entirely obvious since the pattern of the manic disorder is not a regular one. Additionally, other disorders such as delirium, dementia and psychosis also feature symptoms which are similar to depression and can, therefore, be misdiagnosed.


A Major Depressive Disorder, or clinical depression, is one which is characterised by an extremely depressed state which continues over a two week period or longer. This may be a single episode or else recur over a longer period and even over a lifetime. Where the occurrences of depression are preceded or followed by a highly elevated mood or mania then it is considered to be bipolar; where the mood never shifts from the depressed ‘pole’ then it is unipolar. The state of clinical depression can be further differentiated into three subtypes and characterised by the absence or presence of psychosis: There is Depression with Melancholy, Depression with Atypical Features, and Depression with Psychosis. The first features the loss of pleasure in most things and an inability to react to pleasant stimulation. The second is the most common and is characterised by increased weight gain or over eating, excessive sleep or hypersomnia, and oversensitivity to remarks or perceived rejection. The third type, Depression with Psychotic features, might include delusions or hallucinations related to the person’s mood.